Trump, Xi And Putin May Meet In Shenzhen Next Week In A First-Ever Trilateral Summit

Representative image: the Shenzhen skyline — the southern Chinese tech hub will host the APEC summit on 18 and 19 November. (Photo: Fumikas Sagisavas / Wikimedia Commons, CC0)

The leaders of the world's three most powerful countries could sit down together for the first time ever next week. United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday, 8 November, that he expects to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a rare trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China.

If it happens, it would be the first formal three-way summit between the three leaders, who have met separately many times but never held talks together as a trio. The announcement has set off speculation around the world about what three of the most powerful men on the planet might agree on — and what they might not.

What Trump Announced

Speaking to reporters on Sunday before flying back to Washington from Florida, Trump said he would travel to China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, scheduled for 18 and 19 November in Shenzhen, a southern tech hub.

"One of the meetings, I think, will be with President Putin and President Xi, and that'll be interesting," Trump said. "We're talking a lot of things, including denuclearization, but we'll be talking a lot of things. We're trying to end the war in Iran."

Trump said in October that he was open to three-way arms control talks with Xi and Putin, focused on cutting nuclear weapons. The Wall Street Journal later reported that Putin had pitched using a trilateral meeting to discuss an end to Russia's long-running war in Ukraine.

Beijing And Moscow Respond Cautiously

Neither China nor Russia has confirmed the meeting yet, and both have been careful with their words. On Monday, 9 November, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Beijing was "in communication with relevant parties" over the proposed meeting, without ruling it out. China had said much the same the previous week, when spokesperson Mao Ning used the same phrase on 4 November.

The Kremlin has been similarly measured. On 21 October, it said a first-of-its-kind trilateral meeting was "being prepared", and on 3 November, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said work was under way to organise it and hoped it would be finalised in the coming days. People familiar with the talks say China has not yet decided whether to proceed.

What Is On The Table

According to Trump, the agenda would cover ending the war in Iran and nuclear disarmament, known as denuclearisation. Whether Ukraine is discussed is less clear. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said Xi told him the three presidents would probably meet in Shenzhen, but not to discuss Ukraine, which Xi described as a European conflict.

Why This Meeting Matters

The APEC summit brings together leaders from 21 member economies, and Xi will host them all in Shenzhen. But a three-way meeting of the American, Chinese and Russian presidents would overshadow the formal agenda entirely.

The three countries are at the centre of almost every major global issue — from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East to trade, artificial intelligence and nuclear weapons. A single photograph of Trump, Xi and Putin at the same table would be one of the defining images of the year, and any joint statement on nuclear arms or ending a war would move markets and politics around the world.

For now, the meeting is still only a possibility. With nine days to go before the summit opens, the world will be watching Shenzhen closely to see whether the three leaders actually walk into the same room. Do you think a Trump-Xi-Putin meeting can really help end a war? Tell us in the comments.